Mackenzie, A Dinner And A Show

"What the hell, was that?" I asked as I pulled into the driveway, having spent that last five minutes to house in complete and utter silence. I threw the transmission into park before the truck stopped rolling, causing the truck to skid to a stop. It was one hundred percent accidental, but it supported my words, and my need for answers.

"What?" Mackenzie asked.

"Officer Dugal McFuckstick back there," Jennifer said, pulling her door open and sliding out.

"Did you have a run-in with him in the past?" I asked, pulling my own door open.

"You, uh...you left the lights on," Mackenzie said, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, we need them to see where we're going," I said, throwing a hand up in the direction of the house. "Power's out. Come on, we need to get the groceries unloaded."

Mackenzie came forward to my side and I grabbed her by the hips and helped her down quickly. She immediately planted a quick kiss on my lips, and then went to the back of the truck without another word. I closed my door, almost impressed by this simple thing, and my feelings grew as Mackenzie was the first to grab a bin and start unloading it.

"All of the sudden, she's the little engine that-"

"Come on sweetie," I said, interrupting Jennifer mid-sentence. "You don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Or a gift whore...ssss." I glared at Jennifer but she flashed me a smile and grabbed no less than ten grocery bags, trying her best to outperform Mackenzie.

I grabbed five, and ran to the door, unlocked it, and pushed it open, holding it for the girls as they brought their bags in and started unloading.

"Someone grab the flashlight," I said.

"I got it," Mackenzie offered, her tiny but brilliant light blossoming in her hand. She returned from Jennifer's room a moment later, flashlight on, and set it in the middle of the table.

"Everything frozen, goes on the back porch, in the clear bin. Not the black one."

"Why clear?" Mackenzie asked.

"The black plastic will absorb sunlight and cause it to heat up. We're trying to keep everything cold, not cook it."

"We can pack the freezers. Put a towel in the bottom of the freezer in here, leave two inches up top so I can slide in ice blocks," I said, and I headed out the door, only to return a moment later with more groceries.

We continued working like a well oiled machine, until all the groceries were unloaded, sorted, and put away. By the time we were done, we have three more battery powered lanterns going, but I told the girls to put them away and conserve the batteries. We lit candles instead, put one in the middle of the table, another in the living room, and one in the bathroom on the counter, next to the sink.

"This is actually kinda romantic," Jennifer said as she brought me a plate with three steaks on it.

"You think so?" I said, taking those steaks and tossing a bit of seasoning on them. "I don't know if this is going to work...the way I want it to," I said, shaking my head. I'd neglected to get a cooking grate, and the fireplace was just now starting to catch the logs on fire. It would be a few before it was hot enough to cook, and even longer before it could cook by radiant heat. I was wary about skewering the steak and cooking it kabob style, but the longer I considered it, the more I thought it was the way to go. The only issue was, I kept remembering Mackenzie's jerky, and I didn't want to repeat the memory.

I sat the plate down on a T.V. tray stand, and turned, intending to get up, but Jennifer, who was standing right there, sat down in my lap, hugging me close.

"I, uhhh. Okay," I said, sitting there, wondering what was going on.

"That wasn't too...freaky for you, was it?" She asked.

"Freaky? Uh, too freaky?" I asked myself out loud. "No. Nah, I-I was cool with it," I said, trying to sound macho.

Jennifer chuckled, and then breathed in deeply. Even with her jacket on, I could heart her heart beating hard, and I knew this was taking all the courage she had. "I could tell you liked it," she said, my face going red in the feeble light from the fireplace and a single candle.

"Yeah," I said, speaking into the fluffy folds of her jacket. "I think any guy would," I said flatly.

"Thanks," she said.

"Thanks?" I questioned, but then added quickly, "I mean, you're welcome."

"You don't even know why I'm thanking you," Jennifer chuckled.

"Does it matter?" I replied softly, wrapping my arms around her. I felt like a million bucks. I had my daughter here, holding her, she holding me.... It was peaceful, serene, quiet.

"Hey! Can I bust out the chips?" Mackenzie asked, carrying a bag of chips she had already opened and was in the process of eating.

"Asking permission is irrelevant, if you're already doing it," Jennifer said.

I chuckled. It was something I would have said.

"Okay, cool," Mackenzie said, and she sat down on the couch, and then unzipped her jacket with a quick Zzzzzzzip! "Mmm, still a little chilly in here," she said, setting her chips down and pulling her jacket off. Her breasts spilled free, caught only in the sheer black material of her one piece suit. Even from this distance, and in this feeble light, I could tell her nipples were rock hard.

"Well, looks like we can take our jackets off," Jennifer said, reaching up and grabbing the zipper at her throat. She pulled the zipper down, and then shrugged her jacket off, tossing it to the couch before turning back to me and wrapping her arms around my neck once again.

I was stiff, unmoving, not wanting to violate the sanctity of her personal space, until she pulled my head to her chest and pressed th side of my face between her breasts. She was so warm, so soft, so filled with pounding energy. Her heart beat a million miles a minute, thumping against my ear. "I love you daddy," she said, her words not even a whisper, but with my ear against her chest, I could hear every syllable.

"I love you too," I said softly, hugging her tightly, just as she was doing to me.

"Heh. She's right," Jennifer said then, letting go with her right hand, only to run it up and down over her breast, her fingers catching on her nipple that wouldn't yield. "Still a tit bit nipply," she joked.

I chuckled as well, and then remembered feeling that nipple, the soft supple texture underneath that sheer gossamer fabric.

"Oh, looks like the fire might be ready," she said, turning, and rubbing her nipple across my face from the edge of my mouth to my ear.

"Really?" I said, pulling away slightly. I looked up at her, her elevated position on my lap causing me to have to tip my head back. "That was slick."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jennifer said, her eyes sparkling in the light just as much as Mackenzie's usually did.

"No?" I asked, and then I brought my left hand up, hovering an inch away from her right nipple, and then brought it closer. My thumb and forefinger gripped it then, and squeezed.

"Ouch!" Jennifer yelped, jumping up off my lap. She gave me a look as if she couldn't believe what I'd done, but I tried to play it off.

"You were asking for it," I said sheepishly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pinch you very hard."

"But you pinched me," she said, accusingly.

"I...I pinch you all the time," I said.

"Yeah, but...not on the nipple."

I dropped my head and turned back to the fire, grabbing the poker to maneuver the logs around.

"You were asking for it," Mackenzie said.

"I-..." Jennifer began to say something, but stopped.

"What did you want him to do?" Mackenzie asked. "Pull your nightie off and suck it?"

"Noooo!" Jennifer said, an embarrassed and slightly hysterical edge in her voice. "Jesus Mack. He's my dad."

"I'd fuck him," Mackenzie said, unbuttoning the top of her pants as if getting ready to do just that.

"He's my dad," Jennifer said.

"I'd fuck him even if he was my dad," Mackenzie said, and then added. "If he was my dad, we'd be fucking every day. Every day after my eighteenth. No. You know what? If he was my dad, that would have been my eighteenth birthday wish." she said.

"I'm sorry," I said, trying to diffuse the situation. "I apologize. I didn't mean to get you upset. I just, thought...you know."

"That you could just pinch my nipples whenever you wanted to?" Jennifer said accusingly.

I looked up at her, a pained expression on my face. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her. Or...violate her in any way, shape, or form. She was my angel, my rock, my confidant, and my best friend. "I...I just..."

"I-, I-, I-," she said, as if making fun of me, and then, she smirked. My brow furrowed. The left hand side of her lips curled up, like it did when she was lying... "I...got...you," she said, and she burst out laughing so hard, she seemed like a completely different person.

"Oh my god!" Mackenzie whooped and she began laughing too.

"You...you're not mad?" I asked, confused to nine hells.

"Jesus Christ dad!" Jennifer bent over she was laughing so hard. "The look on your face!"

"Yeah," I said, a small smile starting to form on my own lips. "Real...real fucking funny."

"I mean, I had to literally grab your hand and put it on my tit in the store," Jennifer said. "Do you think I'd seriously have a problem with you pinching my nipple?"

"Well, yeah," I said, shaking my head.

"How many times have you seen my tits?" Jennifer asked and she cupped them in front of her and then squeezed them between her upper arms. My cock jerked in my pants, but I swore to fucking god if it made another move, I was gonna cut it off. "You bought me my first bra. You, remember when I had that thing on the side?"

I shook my head embarrassed now.

"It was some sort of pimple or something. He had to squeeze it and bandage it every day. You remember how hard my nipples got?"

I nodded then. I did remember. I also remembered how much she seemed embarrassed by the whole thing, but I explained to her that she had nothing to be ashamed of, or embarrassed about. No, I didn't say she had great tits or anything like that, but now...now they were...breathtaking.

"Okay, so, when do we eat?" Mackenzie asked, interrupting our exchange.

"I...well, as soon as the fire is ready I can put them on. What do you want to have with it?"

"Cock," Mackenzie laughed.

"I'm being serious," I said flatly.

"More steak," Jennifer said, adding a tiny bit of sarcasm.

"Oooo, I could go for some tube steak," Mackenzie said, and both the girls burst out laughing again.

"Fine. You guys take care of the sides, I'll cook the steaks," I said, and I turned back to the fire. "And I'm not cooking tube steak," I said to myself as I poked the coals and reseated the logs to bring the fire to a steady roar.

Cooking the steak took a lot longer than I had anticipated, and after an hour, I made the executive decision that we would eat the steaks, as they cooked. Jennifer and Mackenzie brought their plates over and stood nearby, enjoying the warmth of the fire as I used a butchers knife and cut strips off the steaks where the meat had charred on the outside, cooked through a little, but was still almost raw on the inside. It turned out to be the perfect way to eat the steak, and after a half an hour of fine fireplace dining, the girls said they'd had enough.

Sides ended up being baked potatoes and green beans out of a can. As it was, the baked potatoes were still sitting in the ashes at the bottom of the fireplace, taking their sweet ass time cooking. The green beans were gone, having come to a boil, in the can, and we'd ate them all before we'd taken a single bite of steak.

I left the cleanup to the girls and went to sit down in my recliner, enjoying the peaceful nature of living without electricity, until Jennifer came to me and asked what they were supposed to do about hot water. The dishes needed to be cleaned, and they weren't going to get clean in a sink with no hot water.

"We have hot water," I said to her.

"How? Without electricity, we-"

"The water heater is gas," I said.

"Yeah, and so is the furnace," Jennifer replied, not in a rude way, but in a questioning way.

"But the furnace, and the thermostat, are both electric. So, when the power goes out, no air conditioning, and no heat, but we have hot water."

"How?" Jennifer asked, unable to wrap her brain around it. Huffing, I got up and lead her to the basement door, opened it, and was about to start on my way down, when I decided I better grab a flashlight. I headed into the kitchen and grabbed the flashlight from the counter where I'd left it, and then checked on Mackenzie who was singing a tune to herself, and dancing to music that wasn't there.

"Okay," I said, turning around. I headed back to the basement door, flicked the flashlight on, and we headed down the stairs.

The basement was insanely cold. The wooden stairs weren't that bad, but as soon as our feet touched the concrete floor, we could feel the cold seeping through our socks, freezing our toes.

"God damn it's cold," Jennifer said, following behind me closely.

"Yeah," I said, walking around a pile of boxes and an old table that I used as a bench for various construction projects. I lead the way to the back corner of the basement, right next to the giant door that led out into the back yard. The door was made of wood, but I'd filled it in with styrofoam and used foam sealant around the edge to completely cut off any air flow. Prior to that, the door leaked like a sieve, letting in air, water, and bugs.

"Over here," I said, pointing, "is the hot water heater."

"Okay," Jennifer said, nodding.

"The front dial there, it's not electric. It has a coil of wire and a magnet inside. When you turn it, it does what?"

Jennifer stood there for a moment and then smiled as if she'd just won the lottery. "Electricity!"

"Well, yeah, sort of. It just makes a spark," I said, and then I slowly got down on my hands and knees, pulled a little door open underneath he temperature dial, and pointed. "What do you see there?"

Jennifer bent down, and then got down on her hands and knees in front of me, looking. I could not help but see her breasts hanging in front of me, her silver bullets pointing in my direction. "There's a fire!"

"Yes," I said, bringing my body back upright. "That is the pilot light. It stays lit all the time. Now, if something happens, and the gas goes off, you gotta come down here and, see this?" I asked, getting back to my feet and reaching around the side of the hot water heater.

"Uh-huh," Jennifer said, coming right up to me and putting a hand on my arm, looking where I was indicating.

"That's a valve," I said. I lifted my right hand to show her how the valve needed to be aligned in order for it to be on, or off, and my arm brushed against her breast, or should I say, my forearm caught it and lifted it into the air an inch before it slipped past to bounce and then catch against the pink outfit.

"Mmm hmmm," Jennifer said, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Okay, so the valve. If the handle is in line with the pipe, the gas is on. Think of it like a blockade. If the valve gets turned sideways," I turned it sideways, showing her, "then the gas is off."

"So you just turned the gas off?" She asked.

"Yeah," I said, and then I turned the valve again, turning the gas back on. "Now it's on. But you gotta be quick here. You don't want the gas running for a while before you light the pilot light."

"Why?" Jennifer asked.

"Because if you let it run, and then light it, it explodes," I said, and I grabbed the pilot light ignition knob and slowly turned it. At some point it snapped, and then there was a roar from within the water heater as the gas caught and the burners began heating the water once again.

"That's so cool!" Jennifer said.

"Yeah," I said, extremely happy, and proud, that she would think that was cool. I thought it was cool. I didn't know if a lot of other people thought it was cool.

"Can I ask you a question?" Jennifer said then, dancing from one foot to the other, to try and keep the cold from seeping in.

"Sure," I said. "Maybe wait till we're upstairs...."

"No," Jennifer said quickly. "I...I don't want Mackenzie to know."

"Oh, okay," I said, stepping over to a work mat I kept in the basement for times when I had to stand for long periods of time. As I put my feet on the thing, I could tell it wasn't as cold as the concrete, and now, I wouldn't be tempted to cut and run so quickly. "Go ahead. Whatta ya got?"

"I...the other night," she began hesitantly.

"Okay," I said, trying to let her know it was okay to ask me questions. If she already knew what Mackenzie and I had done, and she obviously did, there was no sense in my lying about it. "Go ahead and ask," I said.

"Was it good?" She asked.

I smiled then, embarrassed, and then shook my head a bit. "Why are you asking me that?" I chuckled.

"Because, I...I'm so self-conscious now!"

"Don't be," I said, grabbing hold of her upper arms and giving her a squeeze. "Just...because we did that," I said, confessing to being with Mackenzie, "doesn't mean I don't love you."

"I know," Jennifer said, and then she lifted a hand up, as if to argue a pint, and then dropped it. "I just...I don't know what to think."

"About what?" I asked.

"All my life, everyone, every person has told me, this is wrong. Everyone! And then, it happens, and I'm like, completely fine with it!"

I swallowed, embarrassed again. I was shocked to hear she was completely fine with it, but that explained a lot, especially the truck ride home from the grocery store, where she'd basically watched me receive a blow job from Mackenzie, and had pleasured herself to orgasm at the same time. The part where she'd stared at me the entire time was a bit unnerving, but, I tried not to dwell on that part. I still wasn't completely sure why she'd done that, unless, it was another one of those strange agreements she had with Mackenzie. Maybe, it had been a dare or some sort.

"Look. I've always told you to have an open mind about things. Make your own decisions, choose your own path, right?"

"Right," Jennifer said.

"Well, people tell people a lot of shit when they're growing up. My uncle Tommy told me if I didn't hold onto my dick at least once or twice a day, it would fall off. I swear to god. And, I grabbed my dick every day until I was nineteen or so, until someone told me Tommy was full of shit, and he was pulling my leg."

"But something like this," Jennifer said. "And like...I looked it up."

"When?" I asked, and then, "how?"

"When I was at the library," she said, shrugging, as if it didn't matter. "It was a couple months ago."

I gave her a weird look, thinking it was very strange that she would look up this particular situation, unless, she thought it would happen from the very beginning. And then I thought, what would she search for? "What to do, if my dad sleeps with my best friend." I smirked. I bet the next person using that computer would have had a lot of questions.

"But, there's nothing. Like, as soon as you turn eighteen, nobody cares! Like, you get told it's wrong, it's wrong, and then it's okay?"

"Well, there are a lot of things like that," I said. "Think about it. Smoking. Eighteen. Drinking. Twenty-one. Driving. All depends, drivers education and all that, but basically, eighteen. There are tons of things like that. You...Society, doesn't think you have the maturity to make your own decisions until a specific age. Now, that might be true for some, and not for others. I think you were very mature for your age. I think David, maybe not so much."

"Don't say his name," Jennifer said, eyeballing me.

"Okay.... I won't say his name," I said.

"I wish I could take it back. I wish I'd never met him," she said, her eyes rimming with tears. I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her, not caring in the least what she was wearing, but as soon as her body hit mine, she wrapped her arms around me as well, and hugged me so tight I thought she would crush the air out of me.